Page:Orczy--the gates of Kamt.djvu/146

 and completely done its work. One by one the lotus blossoms had again been dropped, and the judges simultaneously repeated:

"Death! Death! Death!"

The wretched woman alone among those present seemed not to take the slightest interest in the proceedings. She crouched in a heap in the centre of the hall, and the moonlight showed us at fitful intervals her great, wild eyes, her quivering mouth, and the hideous wound made by the cruel hand of Fano-tu.

"Death be it then," said Hugh, determinedly. "She has killed, and dreams yet to kill. Sinful and dangerous, let her be removed from Kamt, but by a quick and sudden act of justice, not by the slow tortures of inhuman revenge."

"Let no man shed the blood of man," once again repeated the high priest with obvious triumph, "in quarrel, revenge, or any other cause."

These last words he emphasised with cutting directness, then he added:

"Thou sayest, oh, well-beloved of the gods, that thou dost honour the laws of thy sire; remember that he who sheddeth the blood of man, his blood, too, shall be shed."

And placing the document once again before the Pharaoh, he said commandingly, though with outward humility:

"Wilt deign to place thy seal, oh, holy Pharaoh, on this decree which shall expel from out the gates of Kamt the murdering vermin that even now crawls at thy feet?"

But with characteristic impulsiveness, and before I could restrain him, Hugh had snatched the paper from out the high priest's hand, and tearing it across he threw it on the ground and placed his foot upon it.